Abstract
The APEA project (industrial areas with high ecological standards of quality and innovative services for businesses) introduced in Italy by the Bassanini decree, represents a great opportunity to combine environmental protection, land use planning and company competitiveness. This new approach to territory planning, at a low environmental impact, promotes the APEA (Ecologically Equipped Productive Areas) as a tool to improve the quality of performance of production areas at various levels: in the planning, in the design and management, but also as a tool to implement within these areas the environmental guidelines of the European Union in terms of improved competitiveness through development innovation.